SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders
973 How Digilent is Competing in Changing Programmatic Ad Landscape, $40m in Volume over TTM
24 Mar 2018
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, where founders share how they started their companies and got filthy rich or crash and burn. Each episode features revenue numbers, customer counts, and other insider information that creates business news headlines. We went from a couple of hundred thousand dollars to 2.7 million.
I had no money when I started the company. It was $160 million, which is the size of many IPOs.
We're a bit strapped. We have like 22,000 customers.
Chapter 2: What is the backstory of Digilant and its relationship with ISP Digital?
With over 5 million downloads in a very short amount of time, major outlets like Inc. are calling us the fastest growing business show on iTunes. I'm your host, Nathan Latka, and here's today's episode. Hello, everyone. My guest today is Alan Ositek.
He's the chief executive officer at DigiLent, the paid media arm of ISP Digital, and he's in charge of the company's business development and expansion worldwide. He's also the president of ISP Digital, responsible for sales, human resources, and compliance. Alan, are you ready to take us to the top?
I'm ready to roll.
All right. Give us some of the backstory here and help us actually really understand the role. So are you one of the founders of a company that was acquired by ISP, or how does DigiLent and ISP, how do they relate?
Yeah, so think of ISPD as a holding company, no different than WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, where it's a holding company for a global marketing services firm. And we're based in Southern Europe, the U.S., and Latin America. I think one of our unique differentiators is our Latin American culture. uh, focus as well, where we have, uh, offices in Mexico, um, Argentina, Chile, Peru.
So we have a really nice, um, kind of Southern Europe, U S Latin American contingent. And, uh, my, my unit Digilent is, um, the paid media arm. So search social and programmatic buying.
And did you found this company and sold it to ISPD or how does that relationship work? How'd you get involved?
Yeah, I wish I found it. No, it's actually the family in Spain is actually 100% owners of the company. It's the Rodez family. Fernando Rodez, who's our chairman, used to be for many years the chairman and CEO of Havas Media. And then about seven or eight years ago, the Rodez family started buying up marketing services firms.
around the globe to kind of, and now they've consolidated this all under ISPD. So I joined a couple of years ago. I had previously worked at both Aegis and the Aegis Dentsu Network, as well as Omnicom for maybe 10 to 15 years. So I've always been in the kind of the agency holding company space. And since 1998, I've been in digital marketing.
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Chapter 3: How does Digilant generate revenue in the programmatic advertising space?
Makes good sense. Yeah, it makes good sense, Alan. Sorry, we ran out of time here. So I want to wrap up here with the famous fives or quick answers for you. Number one, what's your favorite business book?
Oh, Andy Grove's book. High Output Management. Exactly. Yeah, I read that. That's one of my favorite books.
Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying right now?
Oh, there really isn't. I'm more of an e-newsletter reader where I read like 50 of my favorite folks' e-newsletters. So my favorite one there is Darren Herman has a great newsletter for the digital space.
Number three, what's your favorite online tool?
Favorite online tool. So, oh, great question. LinkedIn.
Number three, how many hours of sleep are you getting every night?
Oh goodness. I actually, I'm a good sleeper. Six to seven.
Six to seven. That's pretty good. As you're, as you're taking the call on the side of a road and you're trucking between Boston, New York and the LaGuardia traffic was right. All right. And what's your situation now? And married, single, you have kids.
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